The awards will be presented at a networking dinner during GS1 Connect® 2016 on Tuesday, May 31st at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C. The awards are supported by the GS1 US Apparel and General Merchandise Initiative, which serves to provide the education, training, tools, and community support that apparel and general merchandise retailers and brands need to implement GS1 Standards. These standards serve as a common language of business enabling companies to enhance inventory visibility and deliver on consumer omni-channel expectations.

GS1 US has added four new award categories this year. Recognizing operational excellence, corporate social responsibility, standards innovation, and small business standards success, the new categories reflect the industry’s innovative solutions for omni-channel value chain challenges. Nominations are open to retailers, marketplaces, manufacturers, suppliers and brand owners, as well as logistics and technology providers. GS1 US will accept nominations for organizations who have demonstrated leadership in the following categories:

The Operational Excellence Award will be given to an organization that has successfully applied GS1 Standards in their systems and tools to improve supply chain visibility, omni-channel operations, and inventory accuracy.

The Corporate Social Responsibility Award recognizes companies that have leveraged their implementation of GS1 Standards to pursue sustainability or humanitarian initiatives that demonstrate responsibility to the environment, society or groups of people.

The Standards Innovation Award will be given to an organization that uses the GS1 System in a transformative way to identify, capture and share critical information that brings about an enhanced retail or customer experience.

The Small Business Standards Success Award spotlights a small business with a successful GS1 Standards implementation story in any of a variety of areas, including source-to-consumer, item level traceability and compliance; with a focus on products, logistics, assets or location information.

GS1 US Apparel and General Merchandise Roger Milliken Career Achievement Award will be presented to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and active involvement in the deployment of GS1 Standards. The recipient of this award personifies the values and expertise necessary for the successful implementation of the GS1 System at his or her organization.

For more information about the GS1 US Apparel and General Merchandise Retail Industry Achievement Awards and to access nomination forms, visit www.gs1us.org/AGMAwards2016, and to learn more about the GS1 US Apparel and General Merchandise Initiative, visit www.gs1us.org/ApparelGM.

About the GS1 US Apparel and General Merchandise Initiative
The GS1 US Apparel and General Merchandise Initiative is an industry group that defines business challenges and opportunities and organizes members to explore solutions and create adoption plans. Members include more than 130 suppliers, distributors, retailers, marketplaces, manufacturers, brand owners, technology solution providers, academic institutions, third party operators, trade associations, and logistics providers, each of whom has agreed to adopt and implement global GS1 Standards to increase inventory accuracy, achieve end-to-end supply chain visibility, enhance the exchange of standardized/trusted product content and improve omni-channel retail strategies. More information about the GS1 US Apparel and General Merchandise Initiative is available atwww.gs1us.org/ApparelGM.

About GS1 US
GS1 US, a member of GS1®, is an information standards organization that brings industry communities together to solve supply-chain problems through the adoption and implementation of GS1 Standards. More than 300,000 businesses in 25 industries rely on GS1 US for trading-partner collaboration and for maximizing the cost effectiveness, speed, visibility, security and sustainability of their business processes. They achieve these benefits through solutions based on GS1 global unique numbering and identification systems, barcodes, Electronic Product Code (EPC®)-based Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), data synchronization, and electronic information exchange. GS1 US also manages the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC®). www.GS1US.org

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